When we think about motherhood and photography, we think of “post-baby bodies” and the tabloid-front image of a glamorous women cradling her shiny-clean newborn bundle. Even in progressive contemporary society, various media present the mother as glamorous, perfect, and inhumanly flawless.
In her stunning series Portrait of The Mother, the photographer Joy Christiansen Erb provides an alternate vision of motherhood. Shooting ... Read More

Don’t you just hate it when all the boys get to swim with the sharks and the girls get left behind standing stiffly on the shore? Let me explain: while LEGO manufactures male figures all dressed and ready to go on riveting and imaginative adventures, the females are often stuck twiddling their non-opposable thumbs.
But thanks to vocal adult and child collectors, that’s beginning to change; after all, the company recently released a ... Read More

By now you might be acquainted with Theo and Beau, a dog and his boy. There’re kind of a big deal: Theo, a mixed breed puppy was adopted in early November by Jessica Shyba, and he quickly bonded with her human son Beau. The two began taking naps together every day; Theo just can’t wait for Beau to settle down for his afternoon nap and get the snuggle party started.
Now that we’re well into the new year, 22 Words decided ... Read More

Like many parents, the photographer Emer Gillespie loves photographing her daughter, cataloging her family’s growth through a family photo album. Her daughter, 11-year-old Laoisha, who happens to have Downs Syndrome, took an active interest in her mother’s ritual of peering through her lens at a pair of shoes, an open field, the bedroom.
While many family photos include posed children staring at an authoritative parent behind the camera, ... Read More

Barbie’s place in adolescence and constructed femininity has baffled psychologists and feminist alike: on one hand, she’s a patient confidante onto which girls might project their hopes and aspirations. But she also espouses limited and damaging views on female roles, bodies, and sexuality. She sends conflicting messages, passively listening to you for hours while remaining inhumanly cold. As girls, we intuitively pick up that Barbie is ... Read More

Health blog "Wellfesto" recently published a list titled "10 Things I Want My Daughter to Know About Working Out" and it is everything the world needs to be thinking.
In the piece, Brynn Harrington, a mother, questions the way we view exercise and the way that view is reflected in the culture of the next generation. Her revelation came in the middle of an exercise class when the instruction encouraged the class to picture themselves in "that ... Read More

Meet Vanessa VanDyke, a twelve-year-old academic superstar at Faith Christian Academy in Orlando, FL. Vanessa is a member of the National Junior Honor Society, and she also enjoys wearing her hair naturally. She explains that her hairstyle “says that [she’s] unique. It’s puffy and [she likes] it that way.”
Unfortunately, much of modern society still insists upon conforming to Western beauty ideals, and natural ... Read More

As children, many of us turn to our toys to navigate our developing identities. Sometimes, our dolls serve as surrogates; we parent them the way we see our children parenting us, and we identify with them. Photography operates similarly: as teens, we might dog-ear or collect magazine images that appeal to our expanding sense of self. Since so many dolls and photographs in mainstream fashion magazines present a grossly limited definition of femininity, it ... Read More

A video has been floating around the internet (and by floating I mean, bombarding my news feed): a series of interviews with children on gay marriage. The video starts by showing the kids two viral videos of dramatic gay marriage proposals and testing their reactions. It’s pretty amazing because not all of the children share the same sunny outlook on gay marriage, but they represent a hopeful generation of future open-minded adults. In addition to me ... Read More

Never fear, this video will brighten even the dullest of slow-moving Fridays! Filmed by a parent at a preschool dance recital, the video showcases a little girl who forgoes the choreographed dance on stage, choosing to instead bust out her own moves and be all around amazing. While her counterparts determinedly (and rather solemnly) attempt to follow the beat of the song “Broadway Baby” from the musical Follies, this energetic toddler bounces about, ... Read More